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Edelweiss Bakery offers old-world charm in modern era

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Looking for a custom wedding cake, or just some delicious treats? Try Edelweiss Bakery at 11639 Duenda Road in Rancho Bernardo.

The bakery has been delivering its unique, homemade European cakes and pastries to the community since it opened in 1981.

Owned and operated by Gerry and Lynn Lawrie, Edelweiss Bakery offers everything from custom-made wedding cakes to cookies, pastries and more, all handmade from quality ingredients at the bakery.

“We’re a full-service bakery,” said Lynn Lawrie. “We might be the only full-service bakery left in San Diego. We’re in the category of an older style of bakery. We’re a modern, old-fashioned bakery.” A full-service bakery is a bakery that offers a complete range of products, as opposed to a bakery that might specialize a specific range of products, such as cupcakes or only sells cakes.

Edelweiss Bakery offers custom wedding cakes, with a consultant available to guide couples through the process. Cake tasting is complementary. While the bakery has a wide variety of cake designs available, couples are free to bring their own color swatches, photos, invitations and ideas to the tasting for inspiration.

“We’re now doing some second generation wedding cakes,” said Lynn Lawrie.

Special occasion cakes are also available, with a wide variety of cake flavors including white cake Bavarian cream and raspberry chocolate cake with chocolate mousse. Other options include carrot cake, red velvet, fruit-topped flan, German chocolate, Black Forest, marble cake and fresh fruit. Several varieties of frosting, including whip cream, butter cream, chocolate ganache and marzipan are also available.

The bakery’s regular menu is also extensive, offering over 100 items ranging from breads to cookies and pastries. Some popular sellers for Edelweiss Bakery include German apple ring cake; “Russian Rock” cookies, which contain walnuts and raisins; Bobby Cakes, which are a rich butter cookie layered with raspberry and almond filling, topped with a sweet butter crumb topping; Sara Berharts, a type of almond cookie topped with homemade chocolate ganache; and apple strudel.

The Lawries credit the success of their baked goods to the fresh ingredients and the fact that everything is made in store. “We bake everything from scratch,” said Gerry Lawrie. “Everything is authentic. We make a vanilla custard here at the bakery for eclairs. We use fresh eggs, butter and milk.”

The store is also still family-owned and operated, and has had as many as four generations working under its roof at one time, said Lynn Lawrie.

The bakery was originally started by Gerry Lawrie and his brother in 1967 in Darien, Connecticut. Gerry Lawrie said his brother was a child apprentice to a baker in Germany. In 1981, Gerry Lawrie said, the family moved out to San Diego for the weather and re-opened the shop.

The shop’s name comes from the edelweiss flower, which grows in the Alps during the spring. “When courting, a guy will go up the mountain and pick an edelweiss flower for the girl,” said Gerry Lawrie. “The best flowers grow at the highest altitude, so the young lady can tell how hard her suitor worked to get the flower. We were striving for quality, and wanted to be associated with the hard-working suitors.”

Edelweiss Bakery is open 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Mondays.

For a full menu and more information, call 858-487-4338 or visit www.edelweissbakerysandiego.com.

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